I don’t normally post about sports here, but as a lifetime New England Patriots fan, today is an exception.
A Super Bowl victory would not only be the perfect capstone to a season dedicated to the late Myra Kraft (MHK), who passed away from cancer last summer, and but also the chance at redemption for the one giant loss five years ago. (The Helmet Catch will forever be my personal most devastating moment in sports history.)
Here’s to hoping that Patriots finish the season the right way this time. Happy Super Bowl everyone.
I seldom watch reality television. But I think there’s a time and place for this kind of mindless entertainment. During these situations, I turn to the best trashy television show on air, Jerry Springer’s most current venture: Baggage.
Baggage is a dating game show that airs on GSN, and is described on their website as such:
On each half-hour episode of Baggage, Jerry Springer guides the fun as one dater chooses among three contestants who reveal the intimate secrets and hidden flaws that are typically kept under wraps to impress a first date. Each contestant enters with three suitcases-small, medium and large containing the quirky, annoying and sometimes truly shocking ‘baggage’ that may or may not eliminate the contestants from competition…
What makes Baggage great?
Characters. Viewers are attracted to these shows because they find the contestants interesting. We want to know their flaws and intimate quirks. The show intelligently handles the delivery of information too. We are captivated into the show as each new piece of baggage is revealed round by round. We don’t change the channel because we want to know what the contestants are hiding. The truth is, aspiring screenwriters can learn a thing or two by watching Baggage.
A writer should think about what kind of baggage their characters are carrying in life. Everyone has their own secrets. Most of us have things we rarely share with others, and a person’s baggage is usually more than a secret. It can influence how someone acts with family, friends, strangers, acquaintances. The contestants usually have an explanation behind their baggage, which reveals details about their past, giving them a sense of history. By giving your characters baggage, you are giving them depth, and most importantly, are creating characters that are human and genuine.
Beyond nice characters
As a film student, one thing I’ve noticed is that most people’s characters are too nice. I think that’s partially responsible for the type of people that attend college. The majority of students are generally nice people. They had a decent upbringing and childhood, most are from the middle to upper class and are now benefiting from higher education. We are nervous about creating characters with glaring flaws, because on a subconscious level, we believe our characters are reflections of ourselves. But most audiences want interesting characters. They want something more than nice/
The next time you’re surfing channels for something trashy, make sure it’s Baggage. You may get inspiration for you next great character, full of interesting secrets and complexities.
To get a taste of Baggage, watch Season 1: Episode 1 below.
I meant to share this news earlier, but the year is already moving quickly. With great excitement, I’d like to announce that I will be presenting a film essay on Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho at the 2012 Sigma Tau Delta – International English Honor’s Society Convention in New Orleans next February.
According to the acceptance email, Sigma Tau Delta received 1,200 submissions this year, and one of those essays is “Psychotic Window: An extreme close-up on Marion Crane and Marie Samuels.” Written for my Art of Film Class sophomore year at Marist, the work analyzes the the film’s use of close-ups to show Marion Crane’s transformation to her own evil alter-ego: Marie Samuels.
I not only enjoyed writing this essay, but also the class I wrote it for. Art of Film was my first film theory class and it taught me how much depth films. I grew to appreciate more classic films after having discussions about their themes, techniques, and deeper meanings. This essay was the final assignment for the class, and I watched Psycho more times than I ever want to remember. Even as a film major, I used to be one of those watch a movie once and done type of people, but the class showed me the value in multiple viewings. Even though we were only watching and talking about movies, I grew significantly as a filmmaker and a fan of cinema.
I’m excited for the opportunity to share my essay with a larger audience next month. And of all places to go, New Orleans has been on my list of places to visit for awhile. I’m just as excited to explore the city as I am to talk about Psycho, close-ups and Hitchcock.
For those who will not be attending the conference and would like to read the essay, I’m currently designing a magazine-styled document for digital publication – since no one wants to read a six page PDF of plain text – that I will be releasing soon.
Last summer, I teamed up with good friend and industrial design student Joe Bradford for an experimental music project. We called ourselves Broken Flowers and wrote, recorded, and released one song every week. We started at the end of June and continued until September. The result was our self-titled first album.
The process pushed us to not only create something new every week, but also force us to release it. I’m proud of what we accomplished, and I’m excited to announce the next step in Broken Flowers.
Joe and I have started working on new material, but this time, in yet another experimental move, we are taking a more traditional route. Instead of writing, recording, releasing a song on a weekly basis, we’ll take an extended period of time to write and record the songs, and then more time to mix/master, followed by a proper release. We’re looking at something more along the lines of EP, about four or five songs.
On New Year’s Eve, we wrote, recorded and released a song just before midnight. The appropriately working title – “Dick Clark” – is a taste of what’s to come.
Last fall, Jon O’Sullivan and I assisted producer/director Ted Saad with a series of web videos for Adams Fairacre Farms – a family-owned and operated grocery store in the Hudson Valley that specializes in locally grown food products.
Jon and I shared duties as lighting designers, camera operators, and production assistants. The whole experience was very pleasant and all the staff at Adams were kind and gracious. If you get the opportunity to help on a production that involves food or cooking, do yourself a favor and take the job, even if the pay isn’t outstanding. You will more than likely earn your work in complimentary food.
Below are two videos – one on preparing fall off the bone ribs and the other on local cheeses. We were eating ribs and cheese for a weeks. Watch all the videos at the Adams Fairacre Farms website.
I don’t normally post about sports here, but as a lifetime New England Patriots fan, today is an exception.
Last summer, I teamed up with good friend and industrial design student 
I'm Ryan Rivard, a student filmmaker at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY.
